Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Iran Update

These events have been reported to World Threats.

Nov. 16 - Beginning at approximately 11:00 AM, about 300 Kurd students gathered at Tehran University to protest the severe suppression of Kurd activists and especially against the execution of Ehsan Fatahian and the impending execution of Shirkoo Moarefi.

They carried placards in Farsi and chanted slogans in Farsi. The gathering ended at 12:30 with the singing of Kurdish anthems.

Nov. 15 - The mullahocracy has admitted that Iranians strongly prefer the television broadcasts of Simaye Azadi (The Face of Freedom). Simaye Azadi is the channel broadcast by the PMOI and has been viewed in most Iranian homes.

Simaye Azadi is received via satellite. It is illegal in Iran for most people to have access to satellite broadcasts yet about 40 percent of Iranians have satellite antennas. This makes it almost impossible for the regime to control information.

Nov. 16 - In an escalation of the schism within the ranks of the senior clerics, the Fars News Agency has clearly admitted that the Iranian Government was responsible for the massacre that occurred at the Grand Mosque of Mecca during the 1987 Hajj.

In an article titled “Moshen Mirdamadi was responsible for the massacre of Iranian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia in 1987″ Fars wrote, ” Those who went on pilgrimage in 1987 witnessed the massacre of about 500 Iranians by the military and disciplinary forces of Saudi Arabia.

I, the writer of the article, was an eyewitness there and so far I hadn’t disclosed anything because of national security and some other reasons. Some radical students including Mr. Moshen Mirdamadi and his friend were amongst the group.

They intended to get a hold of one of the loudspeakers of the mosque after the march that was from one of Mecca’s squares towards Haram. They wanted to speak anti US words and other stuff from there but the Saudi Arabian police discovered their plan.

Informed people say that was the reason for the harsh acts of the police then. We expect that Tehran’s prosecutor’s office forms an investigation group to see into the behind the curtain issues of the event of 1987. This must be clear how some people who talk about reform now laid the ground for such massacre in 1987 by their radical acts.”

Analysis. I remember when the events happened at the Grand Mosque. It was a glorious mess and caught the Saudis totally by surprise. They were not happy and, most of all, not prepared to handle such an event.

The rumor at the time was that the Saudi government brought in the French anti-terrorist group to handle the situation. Had this become known at the time, there would have been big problems for the Saudis throughout the Islamic World.

Non-muslims are not allowed in the City of Mecca much less the Grand Mosque.

This admission that the Iranian government was behind this event will not sit well with the Saudis and probably not with the rest of the countries in the Middle East.. But it is another button pushed.